Day: June 23, 2021

Jun 24th 2021 Hong Kong AT ABOUT 54, the average age of retirement in China is among the lowest in the world. This is a problem. Since standards were set, life expectancy has soared while the number of working adults—those whose labour, in effect, supports retirees—has begun to shrink. But persuading people that they should work longer is proving hard. In 2008 the government said it was mulling the idea of raising retirement ages, but backed away amid a public outcry. Now it feels it can wait no longer. Listen…

Advertisement As the People’s Republic of China has expanded its international power, so too has it expanded its efforts to coerce unwilling Chinese nationals to return to the motherland for anticipated punishment, whether formally or informally imposed. Moreover, China has increasingly tried to force certain foreigners, by a variety of means, to reenter Chinese territory for criminal prosecution or even lawless and indefinite incommunicado confinement. Some of these foreigners are former Chinese nationals, while others are not. Recently, under its 2020 national security law for Hong Kong, China, like other nations, has reasserted…

Advertisement Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan stated last week that the government called in the World Trade Organization to help arbitrate China’s decision to impose tariffs of more than 200 percent on Australian wine. “We would love to be able to sit down [with China’s government] and be able to resolve these disputes. While we’re not in a position to do so, we will use every other mechanism to try and resolve this dispute and other disputes that we have with the Chinese government,” Tehan said. Australian wine is one…

Advertisement Taiwan, Asia’s first nation to legalize same-sex marriage, is a trailblazer in its region. Despite the monumental victory of the 2019 same-sex marriage law, it was a compromise reflecting Taiwan’s struggle to push forward a divisive agenda. Today, there are more than 5,800 registered same-sex couples in the country, and public opinion has shifted decisively toward more support and tolerance for LGBTQ rights, with public acceptance of same-sex marriage growing to over 60 percent since 2018. However, equality for same-sex couples has not yet been reached and continued progress will…

Advertisement Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper will close by this weekend, its parent company said Wednesday, following last week’s arrest of five editors and executives and the freezing of $2.3 million in assets under the city’s national security law. The board of directors of Next Media said in a statement that Apple Daily’s print edition and online edition will cease no later than Saturday due to “the current circumstances prevailing in Hong Kong.” The paper’s closure comes as authorities crack down on dissent following months of anti-government protests in…